Search for Laurier grid coach extended

WATERLOO — A dozen applications for the vacant head coaching position with Wilfrid Laurier’s football Golden Hawks have already landed on the boss’s desk.

But there is always room for a couple more, says Peter Baxter, the university’s athletic director.

The deadline for applications has been strategically extended a week following the Vanier Cup, until next Friday, just in case any current members of the McMaster Marauders’ staff might want to throw their hats into the ring.

It would be near impossible to pry away former Laurier receiver and offensive co-ordinator, Mac’s current head coach Stefan Ptaszek, named Canadian university’s coach of the year this week.

Even Greg Knox, McMaster’s defensive co-ordinator and another former Hawk, might be reluctant to start over from scratch.

But that’s not to say the Golden Hawks aren’t holding out hope.

“Ptaszek and Knox are welcome to apply,” said Baxter.

“We are looking to hire the best coach in the country,” Baxter said this week, declining to identify his first choice or any of the applicants.

Another pair of former Hawk players and coaches, University of Guelph whiz kids, offensive co-ordinator Todd Galloway and defensive co-ordinator Kevin MacNeill, are probable contenders.

The most experienced internal candidate, longtime Hawks assistant coach Ron Van Moerkerke, said Friday he is uncertain whether he will apply.

The decidedly low-profile Van Moerkerke, considered by insiders to be one of the top defensive co-ordinators in the country, is also the geography department head at Kitchener’s Eastwood Collegiate.

He is serving as the Hawks’ interim manager of football operations.

The common denominator?

Former Hawks head coach Gary Jeffries, fired by Laurier at the conclusion of this season, has either coached all of the aforementioned candidates or they have worked on his staff at Laurier.

Clearly, Jeffries’ coaching tree includes some of the brightest young minds in the game.

But external candidates — those without ties to Laurier — should also be considered, said Hawks assistant coach Dwayne Cameron.

“Just like someone gave Ptaszek an opportunity at Mac, a guy without any previous head-coaching experience and without ties to their school. If given the same opportunity here, someone like that could be the best candidate for us,” said Cameron.

Cameron, Laurier’s new recruiting co-ordinator, said the Hawks have not lost any of their 12 or so recruits since Jeffries’ surprise departure.

In fact, the Hawks signed two recruits, linebackers Shalmar Walters and Kwaku Boateng, who are Milton natives, this week.

Baxter said a Laurier hiring committee, including representatives from the university, its alumni and the business community, will aim to have a new head coach in place by early January.

Meanwhile Jeffries, 66, who has entertained offers to become an assistant coach at both the University of Waterloo and McMaster, is weighing his options.

Jeffries told The Record near the end of the season he still had air left in his tires.